


No Wasted Deed

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Series: The Way of the Apartment Manager [9]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Conversations, Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Original Character(s), POV Child, Playgrounds, Pre-Canon, Side Story, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-19
Updated: 2010-03-19
Packaged: 2018-02-23 15:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2552210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Uzumaki Naruto is Kigaru Shinnin's best friend.  She has no regrets for her lost popularity.  (Part of the "Apartment Manager" AU.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Wasted Deed

**Author's Note:**

> "No Wasted Deed" sets the stage for the fic I owe to [Aishuu](http://aishuu.livejournal.com), which will be about Naruto's problems with Sakura's parents. This fic is set between [The Way of the Apartment Manager](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1120050/chapters/2257065) and "The Guardian in Spite of Herself," probably in mid-autumn, a month or two after Naruto enters the ninja academy.

_Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end._ \-- Scott Adams

\---------------

Kigaru Shinnin had always been popular. Mama said it was because she was sweet and pretty. Papa said it was because she was loud and cheerful. Shinnin thought it was because she listened to anybody who had an interesting idea and then helped make those ideas turn real. If nobody had an idea to whisper in her ear, she would make one up herself. She liked to make things happen.

But coming up with good ideas was hard, which was why Shinnin liked Naruto. He never ran out of ideas, and when he was around, the world was somehow twice as interesting.

Sometimes Naruto got Shinnin into a lot of trouble, but he never made her bored.

The weird thing was that Mama and Papa thought Naruto was the worst person on earth. Papa even said sometimes that it would be better if Naruto had died at birth. Papa was the nicest and best man in the world -- Mama said so, so it was true -- and he smiled at _everybody_ who came into the butcher shop, but when Naruto was around he stomped and frowned and looked like he wanted to hit something, and Mama got a funny worried look around her eyes.

Shinnin tried not to think about that. Mostly it was easy -- she just didn't bring Naruto to her house anymore. They played in the parks, or in the big yard behind his apartment building, and Shinnin went home alone.

If they were at school or in a park, Shinnin could usually pull people into joining one of Naruto's games, but the other kids always whined about having to play with _that idiot, why do you like him, Shinnin, he's a jerk, everybody knows he's bad_. It was like Mama and Papa all over again, and it made Shinnin want to yell at everybody for being stupid. Naruto usually stopped her, though, and came up with games and jokes that only needed two people.

Shinnin wasn't the most popular girl anymore. Her old best friend Ino was, or maybe Zenryou Haruka. Ino was just as loud as Shinnin, while Haruka was twice as pretty, and they didn't spend their afternoons pretending to be giant centipedes and climbing trees and jumping in mud puddles with Naruto.

"It's bad enough you're still playing with boys, but even Choji and Shikamaru are better than _Naruto_ ," Ino said one time when Shinnin asked her to come play with her and Naruto. "Why are you friends with him?"

"Why not?" Shinnin asked. "He's fun."

Ino sniffed. "He's dirty. And he's bad. Come play with me instead. I miss you, and Haruka's so annoying."

"So find a new friend!" Shinnin said. She stuck her tongue out at Ino and ran back across the park to Naruto. Ino didn't follow.

What was wrong with boys? And what was wrong with being dirty? Mama got dirty all the time, working with Papa to cut up animals and make sausage and stuff. Ninja got dirty too, and Shinnin was sure climbing trees would be useful -- it was a lot easier to spy on people if you were above them and hidden by leaves.

It hurt a little that people didn't like her anymore, but Shinnin wasn't going to be mean to Naruto just to get her old friends back. That wouldn't be right, and Mama and Papa always said it was more important to be right than to be popular. Besides, it wasn't like she had _no_ friends. She had Naruto and he had her, so they were okay.

Some people weren't so lucky, though. Especially if they got on Haruka's bad side.

Shinnin lay on her stomach along a wide branch with scratchy, folded bark and watched Haruno Sakura huddle against the wooden fence that separated the playground from the rest of the park. "Why doesn't Haruka like her?" Shinnin wondered. "She hates Ino because Ino's pretty and doesn't pay attention to her, but Sakura's not that pretty and she's always following Haruka around like a baby chicken looking for its mama. I thought Haruka liked that."

"Sakura-chan _is so_ pretty," Naruto said, swinging his feet dangerously close to Shinnin's head. She twisted onto her side and pinched one of his toes. "Ow! Stop that; I wasn't gonna kick you." Shinnin started tickling the bottom of his foot instead, until Naruto pulled his legs up onto his own branch.

"Spoilsport," Shinnin said. Then she realized what his protest meant, and why he'd pulled her up into the tree to watch in the first place. "Hey! You _like_ Sakura. You want to _marry_ her. And _kiss_ her. I'm going to tell your sister!"

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her to pretend he didn't care. Shinnin was about to tease him again when his eyes widened the way they always did when a new idea hit him. "Hey, hey, maybe I know why Haruka was being mean to Sakura-chan!" he said. "Did you know Sakura-chan got a perfect score on the test yesterday? Iruka-sensei told Yukiko-neechan when they didn't think I was listening. I bet Haruka's jealous."

Shinnin studied the pink-haired girl with fresh interest. Climbing trees and throwing knives was easy. Iruka-sensei's tests, on the other hand, were hard. If Sakura could get a perfect score, maybe she could help Shinnin and Naruto do better. (Well, help Shinnin. Naruto was hopeless; he always got distracted halfway through problems, and he was awful at math even after Shinnin taught him Mama's addition song.)

"Do you think she'd help us study?" Shinnin asked.

Naruto made a face. "Maybe you. Nobody ever wants to help me."

Shinnin tore a handful of leaves off a side branch and threw them up at Naruto. "Hey! Don't I count?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Naruto trailed off and shrugged. Shinnin threw another handful of leaves at him, but she knew what he meant. Everybody else got stupid the minute they heard Naruto's name. Even Mama and Papa. So Haruno Sakura probably wouldn't help him.

Except, wait. "Maybe Sakura won't be mean to you," Shinnin said, testing the edges of a new thought. "Haruka got everybody to call her names, so she doesn't have any friends. That means she really needs a friend, right? So if we're nice to her, she'll be nice to us even though everybody else thinks you're weird. Maybe she'll even _like_ you."

Naruto brushed leaves off his orange jacket and pants, letting them fall back down onto Shinnin. "I dunno. Nobody but me talked to Kiba the first week, and he still hates me."

"That's because Kiba's a stupid jerk," Shinnin said firmly, combing a leaf out of her ponytail. They'd have to do something horrible to him again soon, just because. But right now there were more important things to do.

"If Sakura can get a perfect score on Iruka-sensei's tests, she's too smart to be a jerk, and if Haruka doesn't like her, she's probably nice." Shinnin sat up on her branch and tugged on Naruto's leg. "Come on, let's go talk to her. I'll ask what's wrong and you think of a fun game we can play when she's done crying."

Shinnin jumped down from the tree and ran across the playground, trusting Naruto to follow.

He did.

**Author's Note:**

> Minor point of interest: since Shinnin and Naruto have already 'adopted' Sakura in this world, when Ino goes looking to practice random acts of kindness on less popular girls, she picks _Hinata_ as her project. As you might guess, by the time Naruto's class reaches graduation, the patterns of interaction among the kids are noticeably different from canon. :-)


End file.
